Article-feeding device



June 30,1925. 1,543,844

G. W. GWNN ARTICLE FEEDING DEVICE F'iltedjgng 10. 1924 www? 1:1'.

ATTORNEYS.

Patented June A .30, "1925. i

UNITED s'ml'rlas PATENT oFFl-caf- GEORGE W. G'INN, 0F BROOKLYN, -N-EW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 AMERICAN MACHINE FOUNDRY COMPANY, A CORPORATION F NEW JERSEY.

' AJaTIcLE-rnanme mivrcr.y

application and Junio', 1924. semi no. 719,220.

I To all 'whom it may concern.'

-r main object of the Be it known that I, GEORGE W. GWINN,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Article-Feeding De` vices, of which' the following is a specificat-ion.,

This-invention relates to an improvement in article feeding devices, particularly to those. adaptable for use in connection with packaging machines. A

In certain machines in commercial use and having feeding devices, .the packages or other articles which are advanced by the feeding device are sometimes injured if not destroyed when they are irregularly fed t0 the wrapping element ofthe machine. The resent invention is the production of a fee mg device which is par-- ticularly adaptable for use. inconnection with an artic-le wrapping or packing machine, and in which the articles are normally fed at regular intervals to the wrapping element of the machine, but in which a part of the feeding` means is vautomatically rendered inactive when articles are fed to it irregularly, so that the articles will not'b'e unduly crowded into the wrapping element of the machine and thereby lnjured or destroyed. With this and otherobjects not specifically mentioned in view, the invention consists in certain constructions and com- I binations which will be hereinafter fully plan-view of the structure shown in Fig.

described `and then specifically set forth in the claims hereunto appended.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this s ecification and in 'which like characters o reference indicate arts, Fig. 1 is a-side'elethe same or like vation of a feedingv device constructed in accordance with the invent-ion; Fig. 2 is a articles from said point, and means for nor- I -mally `transferring articles at regular in'- tervals from the 'primary means to the secinvention into effect,

ondary means and also operative to render `said secondary means inactive when said primary means advances articles irregularly. In the best constructions, the primary means is continuousl operative, serves to deliver articles direct y to the transferring means and includes a continuously operative belt supporting` the articles advanced; the secondary means is intermittently operative and includes a reciprocating article usher and a table along which the artic es are advanced; the transferring means is intermittently operative and includes an article supporting platform and means for intermittently tilting said platform to guide an article resting thereon from the primary advancing means to the secondary advancin means. The above mentioned means andv parts may be widely varied in construction within the scope of the claims, for the particular device selected to illustrate the in'- vention is but one of manypossible lconcrete embodiments of the same. The invention therefore is not to berestricted to the precise details of the structure shown and described.

Referring to the drawings, 5 indicates an endless belt overrunnin a pulley 6 mounted on a shaft 7 journa ed in bearmgs 8-8 carried by uprights 9, the latter, togethe' with other uprights 'to lbe hereinafter described, being supported by the frame of the machine in connection with which the ldevice is used. The shaft 7 carries and is driven by a sprocket 10 over which runs a chain 11, derlving its motion from one of the shafts of the machine in connection with which the device is used. The belt 5 also overruns an idle pulley, not shown, but which is supported by one of the shafts of the main machine.

The upper run of the belt 5 moves in a horizontal plane and serves to support a asv plurality of articlesv placed thereupon to@ be fed along, in this instance, to the wrapingelement, not shown, of the main` machine.V The articles to be fed are placed upon the belt 5 between vertical guide plates l 12-12. The belt runs continuously and constitutes primary means for advancin the articles. Asv the articles areladvance by. the belt 5, toward the left in the drawings, they are ushed across a short bridge 13 -on to a p atform 14'- which is pivoted on a pintle 15 supported by brackets 16-16 110 screwed to the under side of a table 17. .'The upper surface of the platform 14 is normally heldin horizontal position by means of an adjusting screw 18vthreaded in a brack' et 19 also screwed to the under side of the vtable 17. v

The platform 14 is tiltable on the pintle and it is tilted by means of a cam arm 20 which intermittently engages a roller 21 carried b a depending arm 22 on the under side of t -e platform 14. The cam arm 20 is fast on a rock shaft 23 extending across the device and journaled in bearings 24-24 carried by uprl hts 25.

The extreme ends of the rock sha t 23 carr arms 26 and 27 which are fast thereon. nected by means of a connecting rod 28 to an eccentric 29 mounted on a shaft 30 jour-V naled in bearings 31-31 carried by uprights 32. The shaft 30 is provided with1 and driven by a gear 33, which in turn is driven by an intermeshing gear 34 fast on the shaft 7 before referred to. By means of the eccentric-actuated cam arm 20, the platform 14 is .intermittently tilted for the purpose of guiding an article resting thereon from the primary advancing means to a secondary, advancing means tobe presently described. The tilting of the regular intervalsan it operates at' regular intervals to successively transfer articles from the primary advancing means to the secondary advancing means so long as a succession of articles are placed upon the belt 5 with the leading end of each article touchj ing the rear end of the preceding article.

For the pur ose of limiting the feeding movement of t primary advancing means,

there is provided an abutment 35 formed by.

the edge of the table 17, just beyond the platform 14, and the belt 5 operates to push a line of articles resting thereon across the bridge 13 and platform 14 -to this abutment 35. The line of articles'is then stopped by the abutment, but the belt goes on, slipping under the articles. At the proper time, the platform 14 is tilted upward y until the leading article which was in contact with the abutment 35 is lifted clear of the same,

, which operates above the articles advanced by the primary advancing means. This pusher is pivoted on a bar supported in he arm 27 is conlatform 14 occurs at and a ga advanced? uprights 38, said uprights being slidable on rails 39 suitablyl supported from the frame of the main machine. The bar 37 is clamped fast in the uprights 38, and clamped to the mid-section of the bar is a bracket 40 to which is secured one end of a light leaf spring 41, the other end of this spring resting upon the pusher 36. The bracket 40 is -also provided with a horn 42 engaged by an adjusting screw 43 carried b the pusher 36 and serving to normally ho d the same in the position shown in Flg. 1.

For the purpose of reciprocating the uprights 38 and therefore the bar 37 and pusher 36, the lower end of each upright is pivotally connected to a link 44, one end of which is pivoted to the arm 26 on one side of the device, and the other to the arm 27 on the other side of the device, sothat the reciprocation of the pusher is effected by means of the same eccentric 29 which operates the cam arm 20.

When a continuous line of articles is regularlyl fed to the' primary'advancing means or belt 5, and after the leading article of the line has been lifted by the platform 14 and pushed onto thef'table 17 which forms l a part of the secondary advancing means, the pusher 36 enga es the -rear end of the article so placed am? pushes it on out ofthe device,-in the present instance, into the wrapping element. of the main machine, not

shown. y

When, however, articles are not regularly placed upon the rimary advancing means occurs lbetween successive articles the device will not operate in its normal way, for the reason that an article marked A (see Fig.` 4), which Y has no articles behind it to pushit along, will be lifted by( the platform 14 and only slightly advanced by 'the engagement of the belt with its lowermost rear corner, s o that it will reach the position shown in` Fig. 4 and there stop until succeeding packages push it along. ,When this occurs, the pusher 36 rides up over the uppermost forward corner of the packa e against the action of the spring 41 wit outin any way ad' vancing it. When the operator 4feeds articles irregularly onto the belt 5, a line of articles may .come along at any moment regardless of vthe sition at' the moment of the tilting plat orm v14. In this event, it is necessary to a in bring the line of articles to a stop be ore the normal regular delivery of the articles can occur. For this purpose there is provided a pair of gates 45-45 rejecting through apertures 46 in the i e plates 12 near the delivery end of t e' table 17. Each of the gates 45 is formed vintegral with a. long arm 47 pivoted at 48 to a bracket 49 suitably supported by the 'de plates 12 before referred to. Each o the arms 47 is normally held by means of a spring 50 in such position that ythe gates 45 occupy the position shown in -vice is operated normally, by means of rollers 51 carried on bosses 52 formed on the pusher 36 before referred to.A When the device is operating under normal conditions, the rollers 51-51 contact with the upper part of the arms 47-47, and the gates areopened thereby during the iirst part of the advancing movement of the pusher 36. When, however, a single article reaches the position shown in F1g. 4, the rollers 51-51 are lifted up above the top of the arms47 so that during a reciprocation of the pusher under these conditions, the rollers pass over the arms 47 and therefore dc not open the gates -45. Then, when a line of articles comes alon and pushes the article A onto the table 1 and along the same, the Whole line of articles Will a Vance until it is stoppedby the gates 45-45, provided lthe platform 14 happens at the time to be in the position shown in Fig. 4. In this case, which occurs very rarely, the leading article of the linemu'st be removed vfrom the device and placed on the belt 5 so that theabutment 35 will stop theline, after which the device Vresumes its normal operationf When, however, the platform 14 is in its lowermost position, as shown in Fi 1, when a line ofarticles comes along and pushes the articles A onto the table 17, all of .the articles in the line excepting the article A will be stopped by the abutment 35, and the device-Will at once resume its normal operation without the removal of any of the articles. v

` When an operator is careless and does not `feed the articles in a continuous line to the primary advancing means or belt 5, the articles will notl be ed at regular inter- -vals to the Wrapping element ofthe main machine, but, what is more important, they will not ybe injured or destroyed.

In view of the foregoing, a detailed description lof the operation of the device vis deemed to be unnecessary, and is therefore omitted in the interest of brevity.

What is claimed is: l 1 An article" feeding device comprising 'primary means for advancing articles, secondary means Yfor advancing articles, and means for normally transferring articles at regular intervals from said primary means to said secondary means and operative to render said secondary means inactive when said primary means advances articles irreg- 2. rAn article feeding device comprising primary means for advancing articles, sec- .a continuously operative erative to deliver articles directly to said.

transferring means.

4. An article feeding device comprising primary-means for advancing articles, secondary means for advancing articles, and means for normally transferring articles at regular intervals from saidprimary means to said secondary means and operative to lender said secondary means inactive when said primary means advances articles irregularly, said primar means including K lt supporting the articles advanced.

5. An article feeding -device comprising primary means for advancing articles, secondary means foradvancmg articles, and means for normally transferring articles at regular intervals from said primary means,

to said secondaryk means and operative to render said secondary means inactive vWhen said primary means advances articles 1rregularly, said primary means including a continuously operative belt the upper run of which moves in a horizontal plane.

6. An article feeding device comprising primalry means for advancing articles, secondary means for advancing articles, and d means for normally transferring articles at regular intervals from said primary means to said secondary meansy and operative to render said secondary means inactive when said primary means advances articles `ir regularly, said secondary means being intermittently operative.

7 An article' feeding device comprising primary means for advancing articles, secondary means for advancing articles, and means for normali transferring articlesat regular intervals fiom said primary means to said secondary means and operative to render said secondary means inactive when said primary means advances articles irregularly, lsaid secondary means including a reciprocating article pusher.

8. An artic e feeding device comprising primary means for advancing articles, sec-l ondary means for advancing articles, and means for normally transferring articles at said primary means advances articles ir-v regularly, said secondary means including an article pusher normally moving in a horizontal plane.

10. An article feeding device comprising primary means for advancing articles, secondary means for advancing articles, and means for normally transferring articles at regular intervals from said primary means to said secondary means and operative to render said secondary means inactive when said primary means advances articles irregularly, said secondary means including a spring-pressed and vertically-oscillatory article pusher normally moving in a horizontal plane. l

11. Au article feeding device comprising primary means for advancing'articles, sec- I ondary means for advancing article's, and

means for normally transferring articles at regular intervals from said primary means to said secondary means and operative to render said secondary means inactive when said primary Ameans advances articles irregularly, said secondary means including an article pusher, means for supporting said pusher, and means for reciprocating said supporting means.

12. An article feeding devicecomprising 'primary means for advancing articles, secondary means for advancmg articles, and

means fornormally transferring articles at regular intervals from said primaryl means to said secondary means and operative to render said secondary means inactive when said primary means advances articles irregularly, said secondary means including an article pusher, a bar upon whichi said pusher is pivoted, uprights supporting said bar, rails supporting said uprights, and means for reciprocating said uprights on said rails.

13. An article feeding device comprising primary means for advancing articles, sec-A ondary means for advancing articles, and means for normally transferring articles at regular intervals from said primary meansv to said secondary means and operative t9 render said secondary means inactive when said primary means advances articles irregularly, said secondary means including an' article pusher, a bar upon which said pusher is pivoted, uprights supporting said bar, rails supporting said uprights, and eccentric-actuated means for reciprocating said uprights on said rails.

14. An article feeding device comprising primary means for advancing articles, 'secondary means for advancing articles, and

-means for normally transferring articles at vregular intervals from said primary means -to said secondary means and operative to render saidsecondary means inactive when said primary means advances articles ir' regularly, said secondary means includin an article supporting table located beyon and at a higher level than said primary means.

15. An article feeding device comprising primary means for advancing articles, seca ondary means for advancing articles, and means for normally transferring articles at regular intervals from said primary means to said secondary means and operative to render said secondary means inactive when said primary means advances articles ir .17. An article feeding device comprising primary means for advancing articles, secondary means for advancing articles, and means for normally transferring articles at regular. intervals from said primary means to said secondary means and operative to render said secondary means inactive when said primary means advances articles irregularly, said transferring means including an article supportin latform, and means for intermittently tiltlng said platform to guide an article resting thereon to said secondary means. y

18. Anarticle feeding device comprising primary means for advancing articles, secondary means' for advancing articles, and means for normally transferring articles at regular intervals from said primary means to said secondary means and operative to render said secondary means inactive when ,said primary means advances artlcles lrregularly, said transferringl means including an article supporting platform, and cam-actuated means for intermittently tilting said platform to guide an article resting thereon to said secondary means.

19. An article feedingdevice comprising primary means for advancing articles, secondary means for advancing articles, means for normally transferring articles at regular intervals from said primary means to said secondary means and operative to render said secondary means inactive when said primary means advances articles iregularprimary means advances articles irregular-` 1y, and an abutment for limiting the normal advance of articles by said primary means.

2L A11 article feeding device comprising primary means for advancing articles, secondary means for advancing articles, means for normally transferring articles at regular intervals from said primary means to said secondary means and operative to render said secondary meansv inactive when said primary means advances articles irregularly, and means for stopping the feeding of articles out of the device When said secondary means is inactive.

22. An article feeding device comprising primary means for advancing articles, secondary means for advancing articles, means -for normally transferring articles at regular intervals from said .primary means to said secondary means and operative to render said secondary means inactive when said rimary means advances articles irregulary, and a air of gates operative to stop the feeding o? articles out of the device when said secondary means is inactive.

23. An article feeding device comprising primary means for advancing articles, secondary means for advancing articles, means for normally transferring articles at regular intervals` from said primary means to said secondary ymeans and operative to render said secondarymeans inactive when said rimary means advances articles irregulary, and a pair of oppositely disposed gates normally engaged and opened by said secondary means.

24. An article feeding device comprising primary means for advancing articlesLsecondary means for advancing articles, means for normally transferring articles at regular intervals from said said secondary means an operative to render lsaid secondary means inactive when said primary means advances articles irregularly, and a'pair of op ositely dis osed sprin actuated gates in t e path of) articles advanced by said secondarymeans, said secondary means carrying a pair of rollers normally engaging and opening said gates.

In testimony whereof, I have'slgned my name to this specifcation.

Grenen W. GWINN.

iprimary means to 

